World Cup 2026 could have SIX games a day

The World Cup in 2026, which will be hosted by USA, Canada and Mexico, will see an increase to six games-a-day, during the group stages.

Gianni Infantino was very confident in his claims that the World Cup in Qatar had been the best ever, even before a final that saw six goals, a comeback and a penalty shoot-out.

Of course the FIFA president is always likely to say that, especially when he's still trying to bury all the negative parts of hosting the tournament in Qatar.

But, in fairness to him, the action on the pitch certainly delivered, with plenty of excitement and shocks, all topped off by Lionel Messi lifting the trophy.

Of course, as FIFA wanted us to recognise it's the best World Cup ever, that's a really time for them to decide to change the entire format.

At the next edition there will be 48 teams, instead of the 32 we've been used to since 1998, and that means they have to work out how it will be formatted.

32 teams makes sense because there's no room for faffing as it goes down to 16 teams easily, and then eight, four and two, whilst 48 doesn't go so easily.

Initially they wanted to change to three team groups, but then they realised how exciting matchday three in Qatar actually was, especially when Spain and Germany were going home early at one point.

With four team groups in North America now expected, it means that the tournament is set to be 104 games, held over 33 days.

In order to make sure that the tournament doesn't last any longer, something clubs will be wary of, they will have to hold six games per day during the group stages.

Infantino wants a 48 team tournament. Image: Alamy

Qatar was a shorter tournament in length, just 29 days, but still had the usual 64 days, meaning there were four games each day throughout the groups.

Normally it's only three games a day on most days, with the odd four, throughout the first two round of group games, with four games on the final round so games can start at the same time.

Timings are set to be the issue in three and a half years time, with the different time zones and the amount of games meaning some very early mornings for those in Europe.

Games could kick off at noon on the east coast, which would be 5 pm in the UK, with games kicking off every two and a half hours from then in different locations across the three countries.

A 9.30 pm start in San Francisco would mean games starting at 5.30 am over here, meaning over 12 hours of football each day.

It would be tough for broadcasters in this part of the world to split the games up, with it being virtually impossible for all the biggest teams to avoid games at bad times.

Messi is unlikely to be competing in three years time. Image: Alamy

The tournament is likely to be played in 12 groups of four, although how exactly they decide which sides get through is yet to be picked.

There are a number of ideas floating around, including the potential of the tournament being split into two mini tournaments, meaning teams would know they'd avoid certain others until the final.

Getting between the grounds in North America is also set to be an issue, which wasn't the case in Qatar, and one of the reasons the tournament could be played over such a short period of time.